


Got To Move On

by maelstromdeparture



Series: Spirit of the Sea [4]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Brotherhood, Did I mention murder?, Fantasy, Magic, Mentioned ATEEZ Ensemble, Murder, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Pirates, Violence, Witches, all the good pirate stuff, always sleep deprived, honestly who's surprised?, i mean it might be torture?, pillaging and plundering and homicide, they're pirates they do piratey things what more do you want?, torture I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:22:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26727388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maelstromdeparture/pseuds/maelstromdeparture
Summary: The Levanter continues it's mission as it sails the seas and tales continue to spread of the terror it brings. Despite the infamous and terrifying ship holding focus on their mission as they pursue the traders that abducted Minho, they continue to pick up more members for their crew.
Series: Spirit of the Sea [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927246
Comments: 9
Kudos: 49





	Got To Move On

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be Seungmin's backstory.   
> THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SEUNGMIN'S BACKSTORY. 
> 
> i don't know what happened. technically it's still his backstory there's just like a lot that happens. like a lot. 
> 
> *****!!!!!!!!!WARNGINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!********   
> \- *me mentally recalls writing the warnings for the first fic in this series. oh boy here we go*   
> \- pls pay attention to the tags y'all   
> \- mentioned abuse  
> \- mentioned past rape  
> \- mentioned past starvation (not sure if that should be a warning but just in case)   
> \- death threats   
> \- there may or may not be racism i don't remember. it's not any different than the others in this series.   
> \- i repeat pls pay attention to the tags  
> \- specifically the potentially torture tag  
> \- uh. so like. it's not super graphic i pretty much left it to your imagination no descriptions. but uh. the homicide tag gets pretty violent. and bloody. and someone may potentially be sliced open with a knife. but he's one of the bad guys not one of the boys.   
> \- attempted rape but it happens 'off screen' so to say and is not described in anyway other than it happens and there's blood involved because someone is again murdered 
> 
> as always this is unedited. i mean honestly. who's surprised at this point. 
> 
> i think that's everything important. uh yeah. so this is gonna be a wild ride friends, brace yourselves. 
> 
> they are pirates. they're nice to each other but not to anyone else. 
> 
> anyway enjoy :)

The night is dark and promises violence and Hyunjin is both worried and excited by it. It had been just over a year since the Levanter had saved him from a fiery death and he had taken part in many raids against a variety of ships, but they were always a thrilling and terrifying and the victory after was something that Hyunjin found he had begun to crave. The laughter and noise of their ship’s deck after a victorious raid while high on adrenaline and drunk with whatever they’d stolen from the ship was addictive and Hyunjin loved it. He loved this freedom and these brothers and this home that he had been accepted into. But the anticipation before a raid always killed him. He was standing on the helm with Chan, one hand on the rail to keep his balance when Chan slowed the Levanter down, he always stayed on the ship to make sure no one came over to the Levanter, the last line of defense of their home. From the way Minho and Jisung were stood side by side leaned over the railing eyes on the horizon, Hyunjin knew they were both thrumming with anticipation the way he was. Changbin was waiting just out of sight of Hyunjin near the anchor, and Hyunjin knew he too was excited, he had been the one to tell Hyunjin it never really went away.

“Stay quiet, stay dark,” said Chan just loud enough for everyone to hear. That meant they were close. Hyunjin’s eyebrows arched in surprise as they approached an unexpected scene. Another ship was flying pirate colors and was already aboard the Navy ship they had been planning on raiding for information, about the Lady Marietta. Since Chan had never been aboard the Lady Marietta the wind couldn’t or wouldn’t find it, he hadn’t been specific about it and when pressed had explained that unlike Hyunjin’s magic his was more like Jisung’s where it pretty much did what it wanted not what he wanted.

“Drop anchor,” called Chan squinting at the other ship. It was roughly the same size as the Levanter, though a different shape. It looked Navy made and judging by the pirate colors flying from it, it had definitely been stolen. Changbin started to drop the anchor and Chan jumped down to help him, Hyunjin looping the rope around the wheel to keep it in place. The wind died out around them, leaving all ships dead in the water. Minho and Jisung were quick to drop the gang plank to make a bridge for them to cross to the Navy ship.

“Captain?” asked Jisung, “the others?”

“Leave the other’s be, work together. Tell them you’re with Bang,” said Chan.

“You know them then?” asked Changbin frowning. “I don’t know those colors.”

“If it’s who I think it is, we should be fine,” said Chan nodding. “Let’s go.” Hyunjin peered into the dark trying to see what the other ship was, but the writing on the side escaped him in the darkness.

On board the Navy ship it was chaos. The other crew hadn’t acted worried the minute that it was obvious that the Levanter was not going to cause them problems, but would rather work together. Jisung and Changbin were on map room duty and ended up splitting up, Jisung going to find the map room and Changbin looting the quartermaster’s room. Chan and Minho were looking for the captain. When Jisung reached the map room there were two soldiers inside both young looking and one pirate who seemed unbothered by the soldiers.

“ _They left barely out of training kids in charge of protecting the map room?”_ asked Jisung raising and eyebrow, pointing his pistol lazily at one of the soldier’s. He normally preferred his knives but soldier’s were more likely to stand down facing a pistol. The other pirate shot him a look.

“ _Who the fuck are you? This is our raid,_ ” he said frowning.

“ _Han, I’m with the Levanter, Captain Bang,_ ” said Jisung, “ _and you can keep the loot. We’re after information._ ”

“ _Funny, so are we,_ ” said the other pirate. “ _Yunho, the Twilight._ You’re Korean?”

“Yeah,” said Jisung. “Twilight? I’ve not heard any stories about the Twilight. Why would Captain know anyone on your crew?”

“Blast if I know,” said Yunho shrugging. “If you aren’t planning to steal our raid out from under us, I’m good to work together. Help me get these idiot kids subdued and we can find our information? You read English?”

“Yeah,” said Jisung nodding.

“Perfect,” said Yunho. “It’ll be twice as fast with you than if I’m doing it on my own.” Jisung nodded and the two of them made quick work of getting the soldiers tied up and sat on the floor before looking at the maps. Jisung searched for the appropriate flag and frowned when he didn’t see it.

“What are you looking for?” he asked Yunho.

“Commodore Francis Kerrington,” said Yunho, “he killed my captain’s father.” Jisung scanned the list of commodores in the water that was next to the maps on the desk.

“He’s not active. Working as head of the Fort over in Goldcrest,” said Jisung squinting at the map. “Smart actually. That’ll probably keep a lot of the Spanish Conquistadors out of that area.”

“Goldcrest,” said Yunho nodding. “What are you looking for?”

“Trade routes. This stupid ship’s a bust,” said Jisung shaking his head. “I’m still taking the map unless you want it.”

“We’ve got a nicer map already,” said Yunho shaking his head. “All yours.” Jisung unpinned it from the desk and rolled it up.

“Right then, let’s get back to the action,” he said brightly and turned around to head back to the deck. Yunho hurried after him and Jisung’s face twitched slightly but he caught it.

“Did your eyes just turn black?” he asked frowning.

“One, it’s dark as fuck my dude, how the hell would you see that? Two, what the fuck, mate. Do people’s eyes normally turn black?” asked Jisung. Yunho rolled his own eyes.

“Our witch’s favorite spell is night vision,” he said, “I can see you clear as day and your eyes definitely just turned black.”

“Your witch,” said Jisung frowning.

“Don’t distract me. What’s that mean? Why’d your eyes turn black,” said Yunho.

“Someone’s going to die violently,” said Jisung tone lacking all inflection, as if it was a perfectly normal statement for anyone to make.

“More violently than normal?” asked Yunho as if it was a completely normal statement to make. Jisung squinted at him.

“Yes. How have you had contact with clairsensitive people enough not to be bothered by that?” he asked.

“I stopped being bothered by things being weird the minute, hyung, invited a boy that could harness the power of the sun to up his physical strength to be part of our crew,” said Yunho shrugging. “Life is weird as hell and it’s weirder when you’re a pirate.”

“I suppose that’s true,” agreed Jisung nodding and sprinting back to the top deck, Yunho on his heels. Hyunjin was still at the helm of the Levanter and was using his pistol to shoot any soldiers that tried to get aboard.

“You need to get your sniper a better gun,” said Yunho.

“That’s actually a fantastic idea,” agreed Jisung looking around. “Help me find one? I technically need to thank him for that time he kept me from killing myself from soul exhaustion.”

“Your witch doesn’t fight,” said Yunho immediately jumping to the right conclusion and turning to fight off soldiers, looking for an appropriate gun for Jisung to take back to Hyunjin.

“His magic’s non-combative, and like he can, but he’d rather stay back and keep the Levanter safe,” said Jisung, “everyone’s got their preferences and Jinnie prefers to be the last defense than making those of us that would rather fight trade out in rotation.” Chan appeared on deck, dragging a bound man in an extremely fancy uniform with him. The soldiers were quick to lay down their weapons and follow orders once their captain was on deck. Chan shoved the bound captain to his knees, keeping his pistol trained on him.

“Ji, where’s Bin?” he called.

“Headed to the quartermaster’s cabin. It’ll be a bit longer. He’s gotta make it hurt first,” said Jisung and Chan nodded, used to Jisung’s cryptic sentences. It probably meant someone was dying. He nodded his head towards the captain of the other ship that was crouched on the deck with a hurt boy in his arms, trying to pick the locks of the chains around his neck and wrists.

“Help, Hongjoong-ah,” said Chan. The other captain glanced up briefly at his name and his eyes landed on Yunho.

“Yunho-yah, where’s the others?” he asked.

“Below,” said Yunho. “We’re headed to Goldcrest.”

“Goldcrest?” asked Hongjoong.

“Apparently he’s running a fort,” said Yunho nodding, “Jisung-ssi, helped.” Jisung had already moved over to help Hongjoong work at the locks.

“What happened to the key?” he asked.

“Bastard swallowed it,” said Hongjoong gesturing to the Navy ship’s captain.

“He’s gonna die anyway,” said Jisung rolling his eyes. “ _Oi, captain, why don’t we just gut him and find the key?_ ”

“ _Do you want to dig through this fucker’s intestines for a metal key? Because I absolutely don’t,_ ” said Chan shaking his head. “ _But if you’re volunteering._ ”

“ _You may change your mind pretty quick,_ ” said Jisung and Chan’s eyes darkened and he glanced around looking for Minho.

“ _Min!_ ” he yelled. “I need your opinion!” Light footsteps slapped against the wood of the deck as Minho and another pirate hurried out onto the deck.

“Hyung, what the hell?” asked the other boy moving over towards Hongjoong and then towards Yunho instead.

“He’s going with us,” said Hongjoong. “Work with the Levanter not against them.”

“Why?” asked yet another pirate joining them on deck.

“Because I said so, that’s why,” said Hongjoong frowning. “Load up anything worth anything. Channie said we can keep the loot.”

“You said what?” asked Changbin reappearing finally. He was covered in blood and supporting an equally blood soaked and crying younger boy in a Navy uniform. Chan’s eyes landed on him immediately checking for injuries and then unsurprisingly looked over the Navy boy for injuries as well. 

“They were here first and we only needed information,” said Chan, “take your friend to Jin.” Changbin nodded and quickly helped the other boy over to the Levanter.

“Does your captain also just adopt strays?” asked one of the Twilight pirates looking at Minho. Minho shrugged.

“I mean, I guess,” he said. “He adopted me?”

“You don’t look like a stray,” said the pirate.

“Minho-yah, I need you to come tell me if this man needs to die painfully or if I can just shoot him and be done,” said Chan. Minho made his way through the group of soldiers all kneeled on the deck trying to make sure they didn’t get themselves killed. Technically they had just watched the pirates kidnap one of them already. Jisung and Hongjoong had managed to work one of the other boy’s wrists free. Minho stopped by Chan and looked at the Navy captain frowning.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I need to see his eyes.” Chan kicked the captain harshly.

“ _Oi, look up,_ ” he snapped. The captain spat at Chan instead of looking up so Chan grabbed his head by the hair and jerked his head up violently. The captain grunted in pain and met Minho’s eyes. Minho nodded and stepped back.

“Yes, he’s one of them,” he said, “I’m going to help the Twilight load up. Make it hurt, please?” Chan grinned and kicked the captain hard again throwing him harshly to the deck. Minho stepped over the captain that now laid in his path and moved over to help the crew of the Twilight move goods over to their ship. Jisung kept working at the manacles on the other boy’s wrists.

“What’s he going to do?” whispered the boy looking frightened. “What just happened?”

“Mmm, Chan-hyung’s going to make his death painful,” said Jisung absently. “He was already going to die because of finding you. But he’s one of the fucker’s that hurt Minho-hyung so he’s really going to hurt. Don’t watch if your squeamish.”

“Hurt Minho?” asked Hongjoong glancing up, torn between seeing what Chan would do and freeing the other. The Twilight’s witch had apparently taken a preemptive precaution and had made his way through the crew of soldiers apparently tying them all down with magic.

“Yes,” said Jisung, “we found Minho-hyung in an inn. We’re looking for the traders that kidnapped him and sold him into slavery.”

“Why?” asked the boy in Hongjoong’s lap baffled. “Why would you do that? Oh. He’s with your captain.”

“No,” said Jisung managing to get the other wrist worked free. “He’s part of our crew, part of our family. Hyung would walk through hell for any of us. Hunting down the man that sold Minho-hyung into hell is nothing. If I wanted it he’d help me hunt down my parents but I don’t want it.” Hongjoong shifted to support the other boy’s weight so Jisung could work on the collar locked tightly around his neck and he could watch as Chan stepped harshly onto the Navy captain’s chest and crouched down to be closer to eye level.

“He’s changed a lot,” he commented. “He’s always been a little ruthless when it came to protecting friends. But he’s intimidating now.”

“Well, he does have a reputation for being one of the worst out there right now,” pointed out Jisung. He fell quiet to listen to Chan’s conversation with the Navy Captain.

“ _People aren’t toys, mate,_ ” he said, “ _see I was going to just put a bullet through your brain and call it a day. Another Navy asshole sent to Davy Jones. But no. You had to be a first class fucked up Navy asshole, now your death gets to be fun._ ”

“ _What gives you the right to judge me, pirate? You’re a dirty traitor. Damn you all to hell. You chose devilry when you turned to piracy and turned your back on the crown,_ ” yelled the captain trying to free himself both from the bonds around his wrists and Chan’s weight atop his chest. It was a little comical seeing Chan’s much smaller form easily holding down the much taller man.

“ _Can’t be a dirty traitor if I never had a crown I lived under,_ ” said Chan shrugging. “ _You idiots are all the same. It’s like you’ve never met an Australian. I was damned to hell the minute I was born by your rules. And nothing gave you the right to turn people into pets, mate. Slavery is wrong, especially sex slavery. And I won’t judge your soul. I wouldn’t presume to be God. But I will happily send you to judgement. You can take it up with Him whether or not I’m a dirty traitor. Jisung, you still need that key?_ ”

“ _It’d be helpful, yeah,_ ” said Jisung still trying to figure out the lock mechanism on the collar.

“ _I need your dagger,_ ” said Chan, “ _the really nice one from Tokyo._ ” Jisung pulled said dagger out from where it was strapped to his thigh and tossed it to Chan who caught it easily. The captain of the Navy started yelling profanities then, trying to get free more desperately.

“ _Hmmm,_ ” hummed Chan thoughtfully tapping the dagger lightly against the man’s cheek causing him to freeze in terror though he kept screaming profanities at Chan. “ _Should I or should I not start with your tongue. On the one hand you clearly don’t deserve it. On the other hand, I do sort of want to hear you beg._ _Oi,_ I’ll take votes. Tongue or no tongue?”

“Be more merciful just to take it from him so he keeps some of his dignity,” pointed out Hongjoong.

“Personally I vote he keeps it,” said Jisung lightly, “I rather enjoy them praying for mercy and forgiveness before you kill them. _Not that there’ll be any mercy. He doesn’t seem to know who you are._ ” He switched to Spanish calling the captain an idiot and rolling his eyes.

“How many languages do you speak?” asked Hongjoong surprised and then shaking his head. “Never mind, not important.” Chan’s eyes landed on the boy in their arms.

“What do you think. He hurt you. It’s your decision,” said Chan before turning to the captain beneath him. “ _Yah, your plaything gets to decide if you keep your tongue or not. Better start begging._ ” The captain’s eyes widen in panic and he shifts his gaze to the boy in Hongjoong’s arms who looks ready to pass out and shocked to be addressed by Chan. Which is when Jisung realizes the other had probably only been comfortable talking to Jisung because the scars on his wrists were pretty obviously from manacles. They would match the other boy’s scars when his wrists healed. The Navy Captain started pleading with the boy to keep his tongue.

“I don’t know what he’s saying,” whispered the boy. “Can you ask him if he knows my name?”

“ _Hey, fucker, do you even know his name?_ ” asked Jisung.

“ _Songhwa or something. I swear it starts with an S and ends with Hwa. How am I supposed to know all your weirdass names?_ ” demanded the Captain.

“Is that your name?” asked Jisung.

“Close,” said the boy. “Seonghwa. He can keep his tongue.” Chan nodded and turned his attention back to the captain.

“ _You’re lucky you were close, bastard, now you get to keep your tongue,_ ” he said nodding. “ _We’ll start with your stomach. Don’t worry I won’t leave you to bleed out, I’ll shoot you before we leave._ ” The captain screamed incoherently as Chan shifted his positioning and drug the dagger sharply through his torso. Jisung’s attention was on Seonghwa, trying to get the collar free and judging from the horrified squeak and the way Seonghwa snapped his attention to Jisung and not Chan, it was a gruesome sight. He definitely heard a couple of the soldiers behind him retching.

“Oh my god,” whispered Hongjoong eyes wide though still on Chan. “Holy shit. Holy shit he’s gutting him like a fish.” Metal thunked onto the deck near Jisung’s boots and he glanced at it. A disgusting, slimy, blood covered key. Jisung picked it up and slotted it into the lock on the collar and the collar fell away immediately. Seonghwa gasped in several deep breaths of air and Jisung frowned carefully checking his neck. It looked painful, the metal collar had left some pretty awful bruising and abrasions behind. It would probably scar faintly too, though not as bad as his wrists would. Hongjoong shifted Seonghwa more firmly into his arms and stood up.

“Yunho!” he called. “Finish up! It’s time to go!” Yells of acknowledgement returned to him and Minho came running back across the deck. Chan stood up, wiping off the bloody dagger on the captain’s pants and pulling his pistol back out.

“Want to shoot him, Min?” he asked.

“Do I ever?” asked Minho and Chan smirked before pulling the trigger and shooting the captain point blank in the forehead. He died instantly.

“Did you gut him?” asked Minho surprised, unbothered by the gruesome body before him.

“Yes, I did,” said Chan nodding. “ _Sung, what happened with Bin? Am I sinking this ship?_ ”

“ _Nah, the worst has been taken care of. Just leave ‘em to fend for themselves, let the sea decide,_ ” suggested Jisung.

“ _Seems like a plan,_ ” agreed Chan nodding. “ _We can burn the next one._ ”

“Pyromaniacs the lot of you,” said Minho.

“So are you, hyung,” said Jisung bouncing up to his feet quickly, wiping the blood off his fingers as he did. Chan passed him his dagger as he moved closer.

“Hongjoong-ah,” said Chan, “do you have enough medical supplies to help him?” Hongjoong looked at Seonghwa still in his arms and frowned.

“I don’t know,” he said, “we’ll do our best.”

“We’ll trade you medicine for information,” said Chan, “he can come over now. We’ll meet you further off, follow the wind.” Hongjoong nodded immediately though he looked hesitant to actually give Seonghwa up to someone else. Minho moved over to take him.

“I’ve got him,” he said. Seonghwa flinched slightly as he was passed from one pirate to another, but didn’t complain. The wind started back up around them as Hongjoong rejoined his crew on the Twilight and they headed back to the Levanter. Chan helped Jisung pull the gang plank back over and turned to look about at his crew.

“Got everyone?” he asked.

“Yes!” called Hyunjin from where he was still up on the helm deck, Changbin was the one standing watch now, and the boy in the Navy uniform was sat leaning against the rail, Navy jacket abandoned a few feet away while Hyunjin checked him for injuries. He had stopped crying but hadn’t stopped shaking. He looked mostly alright other than the blood but it didn’t look like it was coming from him.

“Changbin, I need a check in,” said Chan. “Jin, if he’s not seriously injured can you help Min with Seonghwa?” Hyunjin glanced up and his eyes went wide at the sight of the other boy.

“Holy shit,” he said. “What happened? Seungmin-ah, come find me in a bit and we’ll see about bruise cream. There’s not much else I can do for your throat right now.” The Navy boy nodded slightly and Hyunjin stood up. Seonghwa looked like he was panicking as Minho headed towards the captain’s cabin.

“Seonghwa-ssi, you’re okay,” said Jisung quickly. “Hyunjinnie will make sure you’re alright and Minho-hyung is probably the only person on board that might actually understand what you need from us.” Seonghwa looked marginally less panicked but didn’t complain. Chan headed up to the helm and looked over the Navy boy.

“Bin?” he asked.

“Right, this is Kim Seungmin,” said Changbin, “apparently his dad’s a governor somewhere.”

“We don’t do prisoners, Bin, too much of a hassle,” said Chan idly.

“I know. He’s one of us,” said Changbin nodding. “Hates his dad, hates the Navy, they hurt him pretty bad, apparently it’s abusive, he didn’t want to be there, I found him in the quartermaster’s cabin. The quartermaster was trying to rape him.”

“While they were under attack,” said Chan sounding tired. “That’s another level of incompetence.”

“We weren’t under attack when he started,” stated Seungmin his voice was hoarse as if he had been screaming with everything he had to get someone to help him. “He’s been trying to catch me alone for months. I wasn’t as careful as I should have been tonight.”

“And where’s the blood from?” asked Chan, “which of you is hurt?”

“Well, Seungmin-ah is, but it’s just bruising. Hyunjin double checked that there weren’t any serious injuries,” said Changbin nodding. “But the blood’s from the quartermaster. I slit his throat but I may have miscalculated slightly and he didn’t die super fast and there was a lot of bleeding.”

“Okay,” said Chan relaxing and nodding. The wind picked up around them faster again and Jisung saw the Twilight take off into the night.

“Brace yourself, Seungmin-ssi,” said Jisung cheerfully as Chan stepped over to the wheel. Changbin stepped out of the way as Chan took the wheel.

“Hoist anchor,” instructed Chan and both Changbin and Jisung hurried back to the main deck and pulled the anchor up. The wind caught the sails and the Levanter tore off into the night, leaving the Navy ship far behind them.

“What kind of pirate crew doesn’t take loot?” asked Seungmin baffled and then staring at Chan with wide eyes and snapping his mouth shut. “Sorry, sir.”

“My name’s Bang Chan, if you don’t want to call me hyung, you can use captain,” said Chan, “I don’t respond to sir. I’m not that old or that traditional. Welcome aboard the Levanter, Seungmin. And we normally do take loot, but this was the Twilight’s raid and we just needed information. Speaking of, Jisung, did you find anything.”

“Nothing on the Lady Marietta,” said Jisung climbing back up the stairs to the helm, Changbin steps behind him.

“I took the map though. Thought you might find use for it,” said Jisung nodding. “The Twilight’s looking for a Navy Commodore.”

“Makes sense,” said Chan nodding. “Hongjoong-ah always wanted to get justice for his father.”

“What’s up with the other boy?” asked Changbin, “I thought he was going with the Twilight, their captain was holding him.”

“And how do you know the Twilight anyway?” asked Jisung.

“How does he ever know any pirates?”

“But they’re our age and there are no tales about them at all so they’re new,” said Jisung, “no way hyung’s sailed on their ship before.”

“Hongjoong-ah and I sailed together with a French pirate for a bit before we jumped ship,” said Chan, “we sailed on three different ships together and then split up. That’s how I know Hongjoong, I haven’t seen him in years. He always wanted his own ship, planned to call it Twilight from day one.”

“And the boy with Minho-hyung and Hyunjin?” asked Changbin.

“That’s Seonghwa,” said Chan, “we found him in the captain’s cabin. He’s going with the Twilight not with us, they just don’t have the medical supplies for him and we do. We’re going to trade information for medical supplies.”

“Which is just an excuse to take care of him without taking him away from the Twilight,” said Changbin raising an eyebrow at Chan who shrugged.

“Hyung’s like this, we been knew, Bin-hyung,” said Jisung rolling his eyes.

“You’re welcome to stay, Seungmin, or we can drop you off wherever,” said Chan.

“He already said he was staying, hyung,” said Changbin, “I know the speech you normally give. I had it covered.” Chan laughed but didn’t complain.

“I’d say you should find him new clothes to wear, but maybe we should stay up here for a bit. Seonghwa looked pretty panicked and I’m sure we don’t need to make it worse,” said Chan nodding.

“It can wait,” agreed Changbin nodding.

“Your dad’s a governor?” asked Jisung moving over to sit down next to Seungmin.

“Yes,” said Seungmin nodding.

“A British governor?” And Seungmin nodded again frowning.

“Yes, my mother is Korean,” he explained, “or was. She died when I was younger. She is who taught me Korean. The other soldiers didn’t like that.”

“That’s stupid,” said Jisung rolling his eyes. “Do you know how many pirates are Korean? You speaking Korean is a good thing. I’m Jisung, by the way. How many languages do you speak?”

“I also know French,” said Seungmin nodding. “And a small amount of Spanish.”

“Oh I speak Spanish!” said Jisung excitedly. “I can help teach you more.” Seungmin looked intrigued by the idea and nodded.

“My dad didn’t want me to keep learning it,” he said, “he said that French was more sophisticated. How do you speak Spanish?”

“My parents sold me to some lord in Bahia Dolorosa when I was younger,” said Jisung nodding. “So I grew up speaking Spanish.”

“Sold you?” asked Seungmin sounding a little nervous but mostly confused.

“Yeah? I’m a little bit magic and they needed money so they sold me,” said Jisung nodding. “Not exactly going to be winning any awards for parents of the year.”

“That’s terrible,” said Seungmin, “how can people buy other people?” Jisung and Changbin both looked at Seungmin baffled and surprised.

“What?” asked Changbin.

“People don’t buy other people, that’s just not a real thing,” said Seungmin shaking his head. “It’s horrible.”

“Seungmin, the entire British Navy is involved in sex slavery trade,” said Jisung.

“What?” asked Seungmin looking like he didn’t believe Jisung.

“Chan-hyung and Hongjoong-ssi found Seonghwa-ssi in the captain’s cabin,” said Jisung nodding slowly as he spoke. “Minho-hyung’s been bought over and over by traders, navy, and pirates alike. We found him in an inn, that a Navy captain sold him too. The biggest slave trade in the market right now is known and allowed by the British, Spanish, and French Navy. That’s why we were on that ship in the first place. We have no interest in soldiers or anything they carry. But we are looking for Captain Hendricks of the Lady Marietta, because he’s the man that kidnapped Minho-hyung and so many others. Probably Seonghwa-ssi too. How do you not know this?”

“The Lady Marietta sells Eastern Spices,” said Seungmin shaking his head. “My father buys spices from them and holds stock in the company they make runs for. I’ve seen the books for the company, that’s not possible.” Jisung stood up and offered a hand to Seungmin to pull him to his feet.

“We’ve got a book too,” he said, “I’ll show you.”

“Please do,” said Seungmin nodding. “My father’s not exactly a good person but I can’t believe he would be involved in that.” The two of them disappeared below deck and Changbin frowned watching them worriedly but ultimately staying topside with Chan, unwilling to leave the oldest alone at the helm.

“How can he not know?” asked Changbin moving closer to Chan. “He was on that ship. And on it for a good amount of time too.”

“I would guess that the captain didn’t ever let Seonghwa out of his cabin and wasn’t the kind of captain that would pass him around the crew,” said Chan shaking his head. “And more often than not, the young heirs of any European government officials are pretty naïve or disillusioned if they haven’t already been indoctrinated. I would guess that Seungmin’s father has never talked about it with him, either because he knew Seungmin wouldn’t agree with him or was worried that Seungmin would ask too many questions about his mother.” Changbin closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“You think his mother was a slave?” he asked.

“No, I don’t,” said Chan shaking his head. “But I do think it’s interesting that she died when he was young and he knows very little about the business his father is involved in. And that he was sent away. I would bet good money he’s the only child and the only heir. Governors don’t send their only heirs onto Navy vessels unless they’re worried they’re going to go digging around and get involved in stuff they shouldn’t be involved in. Seungmin’s father wanted him out of the house and away from everything. Probably so he could get stuff settled with the trades so that all evidence of it was long gone by the time Seungmin took over.”

“You’re way too smart for your own good, hyung,” said Changbin shaking his head. The two of them fell quiet as the wind died out around them some and they caught up with where the Twilight had dropped anchor.

“We’re letting them board us aren’t we?” asked Changbin and Chan nodded.

“Hongjoong is a good guy, we can trust that his crew is good too,” said Chan nodding.

“What about their witch? There won’t be problems with Hyunjin and Jisung?” asked Changbin.

“If there is then their witch can stay on board the Twilight,” said Chan shrugging. “Drop anchor.” Changbin moved to drop the anchor and the wind died out completely. The crew from the Twilight set up a gang plank between the two ships and the four of them hurried over. They were an interesting group. Besides the two that looked like they were every bit the pirates they were, there was the witch who looked quite young, and the last pirate who fit with their group almost perfectly, except the way he held himself a little straighter, walked a little more elegantly. Some kind of runaway noble for sure.

“Minho-yah and Hyunjinnie have him, Hongjoong-ah,” said Chan nodding. “Your call if you want the entire crew down there but I would advise against it.” Hongjoong frowned and nodded.

“You would know wouldn’t you. I have so many questions,” he said shaking his head. “I’ll be back in a moment. Either stay up here or head back.” The other three boys nodded and the two captains made their way to the captain’s cabin.

“You’ve got a witch on board,” said their witch looking at Changbin. “And something else.”

“Hyunjin-ah’s our witch,” said Changbin nodding. “He’s got healing magic. He’s helping with Seonghwa.”

“What’s the other?” asked the boy.

“None of your business,” said Changbin arching an eyebrow. “Sung’s got magic but he’s not open about it and you don’t get to dig for information about it if he doesn’t volunteer it.”

“Are you the first mate then?” asked the boy closest to Changbin. He had a nice looking gun in one hand, definitely stolen from the Navy ship they had just left behind.

“No, that would be Jisung,” said Changbin shaking his head. “Though I am one of the original crew members.”

“This really is the Levanter?” asked the other boy. “We’re being rude. I’m San, this is Jongho, and Yunho.”

“I’m Changbin,” said Changbin nodding. “And yes, this is really the Levanter.”

“It does feel like a ghost ship. You don’t have a ghost crew though do you?” asked San spinning about himself to take in the ship. He was definitely a runaway noble of some kind and Changbin would love to know how he ended up in piracy.

“No we don’t,” said Changbin smirking. “I’m sure you noticed the wind earlier? That’s why we’re a ghost story. That and we don’t make a sound. You’d be surprised what you can do with three crew members and the element of surprise.”

“Nice,” said Yunho. “How big is your crew now? We’re only at four.”

“Six,” said Changbin. “Apparently we’re still looking for two more.”

“Only two?” asked Jongho frowning. “Said who? This ship could hold a lot more.”

“It could, but it won’t. Chan-hyung’s got friends all over the place and one of the JYP alliance oracles claims we’re only a crew of eight,” said Changbin shrugging. “So we’ve almost found everyone now.” 

“You’re ship’s part of the JYP Alliance?” asked Yunho raising an eyebrow.

“No,” said Changbin shaking his head. “Technically you’re supposed to have been sailing for close to a decade before an alliance will offer you a place among them. But Chan-hyung’s brother is part of a JYP crew so we’ve got lots of allies there. And everywhere. I mentioned he has lots of friends?” Jisung and Seungmin made their reappearance then, Seungmin was paler than he had been earlier and he had been pretty pale. He was also holding one of the books they had stolen and was flipping through it. Jisung had procured a pen from somewhere for him and he was scribbling in the book.

“What’re you doing?” asked Changbin.

“Seungminnie’s got a photographic memory, isn’t that awesome? He’s marking every discrepancy in this book compared to his dad’s,” said Jisung nodding. “He offered to look at the maps later and see if he can plot out the routes he’s seen in his dad’s office.”

“Yah, Han-ssi,” called Yunho holding up the gun for him. “I got a gun for your witch.”

“Hey, thanks, mate,” said Jisung brightly taking the offered gun. “He’ll love it.”

“Who’ll love what?” asked Hyunjin shoving one of his loose braids out of his face. His hair had gotten long since he joined the Levanter and he always wore his bandana as a headband the way Sana had done it for him. But he had let Jisung and Minho put multiple drop braids in it recently, tying them off with beads.

“Yunho-ssi got you a gun off the Brits,” said Jisung bounding over to him and thrusting the gun into his hands. The wind picked up around them and both Jisung and Hyunjin looked up distractedly.

“The hell?” muttered Changbin.

“I don’t know,” said Jisung frowning. “Go tell, hyung. I’ll get up to the Crow’s Nest. Could be someone coming.” He ran across the deck quickly and started up into the rigging.

“Which one of you got me the gun? I’m Hyunjin by the way, nice to meet you,” he said.

“I did. Yunho, first mate of the Twilight. What’s wrong?” asked Yunho.

“The wind doesn’t move like that normally,” said Hyunjin, “it feels wrong. Either someone else is using it or it’s trying to warn that something’s coming.” Jongho closed his eyes and frowned.

“What do you mean?” asked Seungmin distractedly.

“Magic, Seungminnie, remember,” said Hyunjin, “we just covered this. Should you be reading at night? It’s bad for your eyes.”

“The moon’s enough don’t worry,” said Seungmin waving him off absently. “This is important. Fuck my dad’s been lying to my face for years.”

“They do that,” said San nodding. “Especially if they’re important.”

“You’re the witch?” asked Jongho looking at Hyunjin, opening his eyes. “The wind doesn’t feel like magic.”

“Yeah, I’m the witch, so are you,” said Hyunjin nodding. “And even if it is, it’s not the kind of magic you and I have, you can’t really feel it like that. How’d you end up on the Twilight?”

“My father was a scientist,” said Jongho, “I may have been running from him. He wanted to use me as an experiment.”

“Sounds shitty,” said Hyunjin nodding.

“How’d you end up on the Levanter? How’s anyone end up on the Levanter? This crew is terrifying. Is your captain as mean as everyone says he is? I mean, he must be? He definitely gutted the Navy Captain,” said Jongho frowning.

“Minho-hyung and Jisung broke me out of jail. I was supposed to burn at the stake, you know for witchcraft,” said Hyunjin ticking off the answers on his fingers as he went. “Mostly we all ended up here because Chan-hyung likes to adopt strays. Thanks, I think? No, he’s not. I watched him fall down the stairs yesterday and lay on the deck and ask the sky why God has abandoned this reality. And yes he probably did gut that Navy Captain and the fucker deserved it for what he put Seonghwa-ssi through. I really need a nap so there better not be anyone coming on this wind because I’m tired as shit right now. Healed way too much tonight. Chan-hyung made me stop too.”

“Take a nap then, hyung,” said Seungmin absently, still scribbling in the book. Judging from the lack of reaction he probably was only half listening to the conversation. Changbin and Chan ran back up onto the deck, Chan running straight up to the helm to reach the back edge, peering into the darkness. Minho and Hongjoong joined them, supporting Seonghwa between them.

“Something’s coming,” announced Chan loudly.

“Fuck,” said Hyunjin, “please don’t be a fight. I’m too tired for this shit.”

“Then go to the cabin,” said Chan, “lock the door if it sounds like trouble. Hongjoong, it might be nothing but I can’t tell what it is. Best to get aboard your ship and get out.”

“You don’t want information?” asked Hongjoong.

“Save it. We’ll cross paths again,” said Chan shaking his head. “We can get it from you next time. You might have something even better by then. Good luck destroying a fort.”

“Thanks, good luck with whatever is on the horizon,” said Hongjoong nodding. “Alright, head over. Jongho-yah, can you carry Seonghwa-hyung?”

“Yes,” said Jongho nodding and moving over. Magic rippled around him briefly and he easily scooped Seonghwa up. The Twilight hurried back onto their ship and headed off into the night quickly, riding the unnatural wind into the distance.

“Are we sitting here?” asked Minho looking up at Chan at the helm.

“Pull the anchor,” said Chan as the wind changed and rippled around their ship so they wouldn’t move. “Seungmin, go with Hyunjin and get into the cabin.”

“What? But I can help,” started Seungmin before snapping his mouth shut. “Nope. Okay. Yes, captain.” Chan rolled his eyes.

“Seungmin-ah, feel free to disagree with me all you want. You’re going with Hyunjin right now because I don’t know what’s coming and I don’t know anything about your ability to protect yourself,” said Chan shaking his head. “Hurry.” Hyunjin grabbed Seungmin’s wrist and pulled him after him into the cabin.

“Jisung, anything?” called Chan.

“Nothing yet,” called Jisung. “I haven’t gotten anything either. So if it is dangerous no one dies.”

“It doesn’t feel like Bambam-hyung?” asked Changbin leaning into the rail and holding his arm out over it to feel the wind.

“No,” said Chan, “I’d know if it was Bambam.”

“Ship on the horizon!” yelled Jisung, “they’ve got their flag up, I don’t recognize it! Looks like a Spanish ship, but it’s pirates for sure!”

“Run the flag,” called Chan, “maybe they’ll pass us by. How big’s the ship, Sung?”

“Pretty big and moving fast,” called Jisung, “I’d guess it got stolen from a merchant. Shouldn’t be moving that fast.” The wind whipped around them quickly, rocking the ship slightly. Minho ran the flag up and it flapped hard in the wind.

“What’s up with this wind, hyung?” asked Changbin pulling his hand back onto the ship completely.

“I think they’re using the water and the wind’s annoyed,” said Chan frowning and squinting in the distance. “Jisung, come to deck. If they decide to shoot before asking questions I don’t want you falling from the crow’s nest.” Jisung scrambled back down the rigging and Chan breathed out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as soon as all his crew mates had their feet firmly on the deck.

“Should we prepare to be boarded?” asked Changbin.

“Be on guard,” said Chan, “we don’t know what they are. Could be nothing. But I’ll admit it’s odd they’ve obviously pursued us. I’d guess that’s why the wind’s so twisty right now, they were actively tracking us.”

“What could use the water to actively track a ship?” asked Jisung frowning.

“Mmm, mermaid, siren, a sea serpent,” listed Chan, “I’d bet on a mermaid or a siren, the serpents tend to stick farther north.” The wind howled around the Levanter as the larger ship pulled up next to them slowing down. The side of it read the Violeta in Spanish, it looked worn but it still had gleaming gold accents. The captain on board was dressed in extravagant gold and purple and waved his hat at them.

“ _Hola! We wish a trade with your ship! We have vital information! Your ship is quite small, yes? Should you come aboard?_ ” he called.

“Definitely Spanish,” said Jisung nodding.

“ _Who is your Captain?_ ” called the man clearly the first mate frowning as he looked over their small crew.

“ _I am,_ ” called Chan stepping forward. “ _Who are you and why do I care?_ ”

“ _I am Captain Alejandro Hernandez of the Violeta,_ ” called the man.

“Not exactly a fearsome name,” said Minho.

“Neither’s the Levanter,” pointed out Changbin.

“I mean, that’s fair,” said Jisung nodding.

“Oi, can we focus on the potentially hostile opposite crew?” asked Chan frowning over his shoulder at them.

“We’re focusing, we’re focusing,” said Jisung nodding and climbing the stairs to the helm to be next to him and nearest the rail near the other crew.

“ _Why were you looking for us?_ ” called Chan.

“ _Why? I have information I wish to trade,_ ” said Captain Hernandez. “ _Did I not just say?_ ”

“ _Why us specifically,_ ” said Jisung switching to Spanish, “ _why did you hunt down us? And enough that you’ve angered the sky?_ ”

“Yah, don’t provoke them,” said Chan idly and relatively unconcerned.

“ _You speak Spanish,_ ” said Captain Hernandez surprised. “ _I did not realize the infamous Levanter had a Spanish speaker on board. I was told the Captain spoke English but otherwise the crew didn’t speak English nor Spanish nor French._ ”

“ _Not really true,_ ” said Jisung shrugging. “ _Four of us speak English, I speak Spanish, and one of us speaks French._ ”

“What does he want, Jisung,” said Chan frowning. “Whatever they’ve got onboard in angering the wind and I’d rather they moved along fast.”

“ _What do you want? You’re disturbing the sky and the sea. How did you find us?_ ” asked Jisung.

“ _My witch,_ ” said the captain nodding. “ _Witches are very useful things to have on board._ ”

“Witch, hyung,” said Jisung frowning. “Blood witch, black witch. I’m not sure. But the translation for the word he used for witch is bad. Like really dark magic bad.”

“I want him out of our water fast,” said Chan nodding. “ _What information? And what are you wanting from us?_ ”

“ _You are hunting the Eastern Spice Trade ships, yes? They deal with the Spanish Navy as well. I have books and maps from the Spanish Navy I would like to transfer to your ship,_ ” said Captain Hernandez. “ _In return I would like the secret to how your ship has become such a ghost tale. And how none of the Kings have taken you down a peg yet._ ” Jisung translated into Korean quickly and Chan frowned.

“ _We’ll take the information,_ ” called Chan, “ _and I’ll trade you a map with the British Navy travel routes for the next month. How’s that?_ ”

“ _No good. No good._ ” said Captain Hernandez in English and then switching back to Spanish. “ _Tell your captain, I need the information at least on how he moves his ship as a ghost. My witch will replicate the magic._ ”

“He wants his witch to replicate your wind magic,” said Jisung. Chan cocked his head.

“He can’t,” said Changbin frowning. “Unless he’s like you, he can’t. Bambam-hyung’s the only other person that we know that can do it.”

“ _I’ll tell you,_ ” called Chan, “ _but if you don’t like the answer it’s not my fault._ ”

“ _Of course. If the answer is the truth all is well,_ ” said Captain Hernandez nodding. “ _It is no fault of yours if my witch cannot use the information well._ ” Chan nodded.

“ _Tell him he can send one crew member over with the books and maps,_ ” said Chan to Jisung. “Only one.” Jisung translated and Captain Hernandez agreed. There was some chaos aboard the deck of the other ship and a young pirate was sent over carrying a box of books and maps. He climbed the stairs to the helm with Minho right behind him to make sure he didn’t try anything and he set the box on the deck. Jisung rifled through it quickly to check it was what they had said it was.

“Looks right,” said Jisung, “this actually is way better information than anything that British ship had.”

“Nice,” said Chan nodding. Jisung told the Spanish pirate he could go back to his crew and the pirate hurried back to his own ship. 

“ _The deal, ghost captain?_ ” demanded the Spanish pirate.

“ _It’s Storm Sprite magic,_ ” said Chan, “ _the spirit of the sea, the soul of freedom itself. Your witch can’t replicate it. Payment enough?_ ”

“ _Your name? I should like a name for the infamous captain of the Levanter,_ ” said Captain Hernandez.

“You don’t have to,” said Minho. “You paid in full. It’s his own fault that he doesn’t like his payment.”

“There are no other tales for my name to be tied too and no one to be endangered by it. May as well give the ghost a name, yes?” said Chan shrugging. “ _Bang. My name is Captain Bang, of the Levanter._ ” Captain Hernandez nodded and called orders to his crew.

“ _Pleased to do business, Captain Bang. I look forward to future trades,_ ” he said and the Violeta took off into the night. The sea around them calmed down once more.

“That was strange,” said Changbin shaking his head.

“I didn’t like him at all,” said Minho frowning.

“You didn’t know him, right?” asked Chan and Minho shook his head.

“No. But he had bad vibes,” he said.

“I’m not totally sure they were actually pirates,” said Jisung quietly. “He had a very posh accent for a Spanish pirate.”

“Could be ex Navy,” said Chan nodding. “Hopefully we don’t have to cross paths with them in the future. I don’t much like the idea of a dark witch.”

“Especially with Hyunjinnie on board,” said Jisung nodding. Chan shook his head.

“We’re doing extra watches tonight,” he said. “Hyunjin and Seungmin are exempt. But the rest of us are going to cycle out all night instead of in pairs like we normally do.” The other three nodded in agreement. They would be more alert if they had shorter watch times. It’d be better to be safe.

“We’re going to keep moving too,” said Chan letting the wind pick back up around them and the Levanter lurched to a start from the stand still it had been sitting at.

“Bin, you’re on first watch,” said Chan, “keep us steady and keep your eyes on the horizon. The minute anything feels weird come get me.” Changbin nodded and moved over to take his place at the helm.

“Sung, run those to the map room and then come to bed,” said Chan, “you can look in the morning.” Jisung nodded and picked the box up. He disappeared off the deck, hurrying to follow orders while Minho and Chan made their way to the captain’s cabin.

“Night, Binnie!” called Minho.

“Goodnight,” called Changbin, Chan echoed the sentiment. Hyunjin and Seungmin were sitting on the bed in the cabin when they entered. Both of them looked exhausted and Seungmin was in clean clothes and had been cleaned of the blood from earlier.

“What was it? It felt bad, hyung, really bad. Like I stared into the abyss and it stared back kind of bad,” said Hyunjin, “like something that isn’t human anymore and maybe never was kind of bad.”

“Spanish pirates, they wanted to trade information. You felt his witch. Hopefully we don’t cross paths again,” said Chan shaking his head. “It was very strange.”

“What did they want from us?” asked Hyunjin.

“How we move the way we do,” said Chan, “and my name.”

“You didn’t give it to him, right? A dark witch can use your full name against you,” said Hyunjin frowning. “Like Irish Fae. Names are powerful.”

“I just told him Captain Bang and it was enough for him. It’s not my real name, Chan’s not even my real name, just my Korean name,” said Chan shrugging. “So he can’t really do anything with that. It’s as much a ghost as the stories about Levanter are.” Hyunjin laughed at that.

“Oh that’s going to frustrate him to no end,” he said nodding. “He was definitely trying to trap you. You aren’t on watch first tonight?”

“We’re cycling through the four of us incase they decide to circle back around,” said Chan nodding. “We’re staying moving as well. It’ll be safer like this. I’m taking second watch.”

“Four?” asked Seungmin brushing his bangs out of his eyes to look at Chan.

“Me, Changbin, Minho, and Jisung,” said Chan nodding. “Hyunjin exhausted himself healing both you and Seonghwa earlier. And since it’s your first night and you had a traumatizing experience you get to take a few days before we add you to rotations, give you some time to settle in. How long were you on that ship?”

“Almost a year,” said Seungmin, “felt like decades.” Chan laughed and nodded.

“Navy ships are like that,” he said, “there’s a handful of captains that treat their crew good, but not many. It’s hell for sure.”

“Are you sleeping in the window with Sung, Channie?” asked Minho already having taken his boots off and unstrapped his weapons to line them up in their place.

“Depends on where Seungmin is wanting to go,” said Chan shaking his head. “Do you want to share the bed with Minho and Hyunjin or the window bench with Jisung?” Seungmin looked at him baffled.

“Everyone sleeps in here?” he asked.

“Yep,” said Hyunjin nodding. “Since we’re a small crew, there’s lots of space.”

“I haven’t slept somewhere actually comfortable in ages. I just slept on the floor for the past six months,” said Seungmin shaking his head. “Um, I’ll take the bench with Jisung, I suppose. You three can have the bed.”

“I can share with them too if you’d rather be on your own, Seungmin-ah,” said Jisung joining them in the room and haphazardly kicking off his boots. Chan slipped out of his own boots and set them by Minho’s before setting Jisung’s in line as well.

“Don’t forget your Tokyo knife, Sung,” he said and Jisung’s fingers quickly undid the knife from his thigh and set it on the table next to the rest of his weapons. Chan ran through taking his own weapons off one by one and ran his fingers over Hyunjin’s new gun curiously and asked where it came from. Hyunjin told him Yunho had given it to him.

“I’m okay sharing with you,” said Seungmin shaking his head. “You already claimed I was your brother. I’d actually feel better having you or Changbin-hyung with me. Oh, by the way, captain, Jisung let me write in the book about the trade information so I could cross reference it with information from my father’s books. I can look at your maps in the morning and add the routes I remember.”

“That’s fantastic, Seungmin,” said Chan nodding. “You’re doing okay, right? From tonight? You seem awfully okay with suddenly being on a pirate ship.”

“Honestly, I’m a lot less afraid of you than I am of the Navy,” said Seungmin. “You’ve been nothing but nice to me and proven you keep your crew safe and that you care about them. The Navy hated me. Did their best to starve me and get me tossed over board or left behind in ports. I’d much rather join a pirate crew if that’s what the difference is. You can’t be that bad. Jisung said you saved him, so did Changbin-hyung, and Hyunjin-hyung too. That’s three of four so far, four of five counting me.”

“Five of five,” said Minho shaking his head. “They saved me too.”

“You all like to act like you didn’t save me too. Where would I be without any of you?” said Chan shaking his head. “We can debate the perks of piracy versus the law in the morning. For now get some sleep. Hyunjin looks ready to pass out and Seungmin can’t be better off. You had a long day.” Seungmin took his shoes off quickly and added them to the line by the door. Jisung pulled him onto the bench and wrapped an arm tightly around him and pushed him to the side by the window.

“I’ve gotta get up in the night, so you get the window side,” said Jisung nodding to himself and then wiggling until they were both comfortable. Chan helped adjust the blanket and tossed them an extra as he grabbed a second for the bed as well.

“It’s going to get cold out tonight, so extra blankets. Take a jacket when it’s your turn for watch,” said Chan nodding.

“Bin is swapping out with me so he’s joining the bed tonight,” said Chan as he and Hyunjin unfolded the blanket onto the bed. Hyunjin kicked his boots over to the pile by the door and Chan let them be, not bothering to go over and fix them as he climbed into the bed by Minho. Minho seemed content to be in the middle tonight while Hyunjin took the side by the wall.

“Cuddles, hyung?” asked Hyunjin and waited for Minho to nod before he settled against him under the blankets. Chan leaned over to carefully pull the headband from Hyunjin’s head and brush his hair out of his face.

“Night, Jin,” he said.

“Hey, I didn’t get my usual goodnight,” complained Jisung and Chan laughed and climbed back out of the bed to go back to the window and pinch Jisung’s cheek.

“Goodnight, Jisungie,” he said.

“Night, hyungie,” said Jisung smiling.

“Good night, Seungmin-ah,” said Chan ruffling Seungmin’s hair before going back to the bed and offering a hand to Minho once he was laid back down. Minho hooked his finger’s around Chan’s before tugging him closer so they could properly cuddle.

“You can hold me tonight,” he said.

“Okay,” said Chan wrapping an arm around him, careful of where Hyunjin was already latched onto Minho. “Check in?”

“I don’t know yet,” said Minho, “if I wake up screaming let go of me.”

“Okay,” mumbled Hyunjin into Minho’s shoulder. “What happened?”

“The Min knew the captain,” said Chan and Hyunjin grimaced and swore.

“Is he dead?” asked Seungmin quietly.

“Yes,” said Chan, “he was dead the minute we found Seonghwa in his cabin.”

“Good. He was cruel,” said Seungmin determinedly. “Is it bad I don’t feel bad about it?”

“No, you’re a pirate now, you don’t need to worry about morals,” said Jisung, “go to sleep. You can have a moral dilemma in the morning.”

“Why does your night habits include captain pinching your cheek? Do you just like having your cheek pinched?” asked Seungmin reaching to pinch Jisung’s cheek only to get swatted away.

“Yah, Channie-hyung’s allowed to pinch my cheeks, but that’s it,” complained Jisung.

“Hey, yeah, why is that?” asked Hyunjin curiously. “I never asked and I was going to.”

“Because Jisungie didn’t have them when I met him,” said Chan quietly. “That’s why.”

“Yeah,” said Jisung nodding. “When you lot pinch my cheeks it’s cause you think I’m cute. But Channie-hyung pinching my cheeks is a reminder that we’re okay now and everything’s okay.”

“You didn’t have cheeks?” asked Seungmin baffled.

“Malnourishment, Seungminnie,” said Minho sounding exhausted. “Not as in he had gaping holes in the side of his face.”

“I knew that,” protested Seungmin sounding annoyed that Minho assumed that he had been thinking exactly what he was thinking.

“Sure, sure,” said Minho waving a hand in his direction. “Can we go to sleep now? Some of us have to be up for a watch in a few hours and may or may not have night terrors for the rest of their sleep cycle.”

“We’ll shut up,” said Jisung quickly.

“Yeah, sorry, hyung,” offered Seungmin and the cabin fell silent around them. Several minutes later when all three of their youngest were breathing steadily and sound asleep Minho shifted to settle his head on Chan’s shoulder.

“You think he’s okay, hyung?” he whispered, knowing Chan was still awake.

“Seungmin-ah? I think he’s not as okay as he’s acting but that he’s better than he could have been. He seems to be handling stuff well. Really smart too, and that curiosity is going to be the death of him, but I think we need some of it,” said Chan nodding. “I like him.”

“You like almost everyone,” said Minho rolling his eyes. “Think he can deal with the violence of being a pirate?”

“Guess we’ll see,” said Chan, “if he can’t he can always stay back with Hyunjinnie. He wanted to fight earlier so it may not be a problem. I’ve got a good feeling about this. We’re on the right path, the wind is strong, and we’re so close to the last two. I can feel it in my bones.” Minho chuckled slightly.

“Okay, old man. In your bones. Sure it’s not just your joints getting old?” asked Minho.

“Yah, the disrespect. I’m not much older than you, Minho-yah. Go to sleep,” said Chan poking his side lightly. Minho laughed and closed his eyes settling into go to sleep. He would have nightmares tonight for sure, he always did. Hyunjin and Seungmin probably would too. But for now he felt safe and secure between two of his brothers, two more crowded together in the window, and one watching over the sleeping ship above them. Hopefully the last two that were missing were okay wherever they were and that if they weren’t they would hold on until they could reach them. Despite his teasing, Minho knew Chan was right. They were close to having their full crew and close to finding the men that had made Minho’s life hell. Whatever happened from here they would be okay, they had each other and as long as the Levanter had each other the Levanter would make it.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm not entirely sure that seungmin even had his own paragraph for a fic that's supposedly about him. 
> 
> is what it is i guess. part of Ateez has shown up. they will show up in more and there will be a little more about their backstory. the Spanish pirates i made up in the moment and they may or may not show back up. but i do have a plan for their information that will show up in the next fic so i promise they weren't pointless XD 
> 
> Jeongin is next and it'll happen eventually. i'm gonna be super busy because i've got sorority stuff all next week so it probably isn't going to happen until sometime after next week. 
> 
> thank you for reading! i love you all and take of your selves :D


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